By Caitlin Ostroff 

U.S. stocks opened higher Thursday as investors awaited the start of an annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., where central bank leaders will meet to discuss issues facing the global economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 86 points, or 0.3%, to 26289 shortly after the opening bell. The S&P 500 added 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite also climbed 0.2%.

Investors are particularly focused on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech scheduled for Friday, where he could offer clues on the central bank's policy moving forward.

"It really is all on Powell's shoulders," said Craig Erlam, a senior market analyst for foreign-exchange trading platform Oanda.

Minutes released Wednesday from the Fed's latest policy meeting showed officials saw their move to cut interest rates last month as a "recalibration," rather than the start of a more aggressive easing cycle.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that initial U.S. jobless claims fell by 12,000 to 209,000 in the week ended Aug. 17, keeping the number of Americans applying for first-time unemployment benefits at historic lows. Data on U.S. preliminary manufacturing figures will be released later Thursday.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose to 1.604% from 1.577% on Wednesday, while the two-year Treasury yield climbed to 1.598%, from 1.569%.

Meanwhile, global stocks wavered as minutes from the European Central Bank showing broad support for prolonged stimulus measures failed to ease recession concerns.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.1% in early afternoon trade, having retraced earlier losses after the ECB minutes signaled stimulus measures that could include interest-rate cuts and new asset purchases.

The minutes came after earlier eurozone data on activity in the manufacturing and services sectors for Germany and France showed small rises, beating forecasts.

Although the German economic data were better than expected, Florian Hense, an economist for Berenberg Bank, said he remained concerned about a potential recession amid threats to German exports from the Trump administration's talk of tariffs on European car manufacturers.

"The numbers today neither discredit that nor really confirm it," he said. "What it confirms is that the domestic side of the economy is still holding up pretty well."

Asian stocks were mixed, with the Shanghai Composite up 0.1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 0.8% and Japan's Nikkei 225 up 0.1%.

In currencies, the Chinese yuan slipped against the U.S. dollar to its lowest levels since 2008. One U.S. dollar recently bought 7.0853 onshore yuan, compared with 7.0875 in the offshore market.

In commodities, global benchmark Brent crude oil gained 0.6% to $60.67 a barrel. Gold prices slipped 0.5%.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 22, 2019 09:47 ET (13:47 GMT)

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